It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

Hi all Flock followers... Ramona here to share a few projects I have been working on for my Flamingo Scraps DT project. I have used the Carta Bella and Lilly Bee Design papers that we had back in July. Which now might be found in the Warehouse Boxes for sale at the store. I had so much fun creating all these projects that would be great to put in stockings or on plates for your dinner guest. The patterns that I have used are some from Treasure Box Designs and Silhouette Store and cut on my Cameo. The patterns for the Mad Hatter ornaments can be found here. I used much of the paper that I had gotten between these and the Christmas book that I made. This paper is just so awesome not to waste one inch of it. Hope you like my projects as much as I loved making them.

I used Webster’s Pages Bloomers Red Sparkle. I also used a metal technique on the small one that I learned from Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 2.

Who would not love this little mug full of Hot Chocolate on Christmas Morning?? I used a Prima Wood icon on the snowflake.

A little tea light on your Christmas Tree??

A present that contains a gift card. I used the new Platium Stickles on this and Love it.

Another Hot Chocolate Stocking Stuffer I so love this one with the snowman soup poem as in the above Coffee cup poem.

Hope you like my creations!!

Tim Holtz Distress Paints
Prima Chalk Ink Edgers — Set of 40 Original Colors
Seam Binding – Black
Seam Binding – Red

Remember Christmas is coming soon so grab you a Warehouse Box before they are gone. They have been marked down even lower then before.
Flamingo Scraps Warehouse Sale Box — Embellishment Box
Flamingo Scraps Warehouse Sale Box — Combination Box
And if there is somehting that I have used and you can not find it in the store. Do not hessitate to ask Suzanne and she can special order it for you.

Hugs and keep Scrappin!!

Designs~By~Ramona

Fun with Enamel Accents and more

Back in September, Tonya challenged me to make something from Glossy Accents (which had been sitting on my shelf untouched, as I didn't really know what I could do with it).  I made some acorn napkin rings and in the process I fell in love with Glossy Accents.  I've used it a couple of times since then.  As I was putting it back on the shelf, I noticed the untouched Enamel Accents sitting nearby.  Time to experiment!

I decided to make some snowman gift tags.  My plan was to use black Enamel Accents for the face and white Enamel Accents for the fur of hat.  I was half successful- the face worked perfectly, while the fur looked lousy.  I ended up redoing it with Decorative Snow, which looks a zillion times better.

Here are my finished tags:  

From Flamingo Scraps: Stickles

Other: Enamel Accents, Marvy punches + pens, Delta Decorative Snow, 
Pop Dots, and unknown cording.

And the side view:

I clearly need to do more experimentation with Enamel Accents!  How have you used it, especially the white?

Little Details

Back in June, I blogged about the zoo-themed birthday parties Trevor had when he turned five.  Here is the layout from the celebration with his friends at the Oakland Zoo.  I had so much fun putting this together- I love the bright colors of the pictures and wanted the layout to be equally fun and happy to match the spirit of the party. 

From Flamingo Scraps: Fancy Pants patterned paper, Crate Paper patterned paper, Tim Holtz grungeboard, Stickles

Other: Folk Art paint, Paper Pizazz vellum, Queen & Co. brad and button, Marvy circle punch, unknown ribbon

What I like most about this layout are the little details.  With twelve pictures and bright lime/orange papers all demanding the viewers' attention, I needed to keep the embellishments simple, but not so plain they'd be lost.  I started with the grungeboard 5.  I painted it orange, rubbed it with orange Stickles, and then tied on the ribbon.  I used the same Stickles to cover the brad and to fill in the center of the star-shaped button.  I edged the vellum circles in Stickles. 

I love the way the dotted vellum sets off the 5 and the date.  I'd originally used the same dotted vellum for the journaling, but it was hard to read.  I switched to a plain vellum and it looks much better.

Such a fun layout and such great memories from a fantastic day!

Keeping Things Fresh

I never get tired of scrapping egg dyeing, pumpkin carving, gingerbread making, or other holiday traditions.  Even though these happen annually and the pictures can look pretty much the same from year to year, I still look forward to scrapping them.  I don't worry about the layouts looking similar over the years.  Even if they are, they aren't next to each other in the albums, so it doesn't bother me.

It's a bit different with some of our vacation photos.  My inlaws own a cabin in Bear Valley, California.  2011 was the first time since I've been in the family that they didn't rent it out during the winter.  We took advantage of the free lodging, going to the cabin in January (a winter wonderland), April (just following a record snowfall that nearly covered the 3-story cabin), and Father's Day weekend (still quite snowy). 

In my mind, the trips were extremely different from one another.  We brought along family friends in January, invited Trevor's godmother in April, and just the three of us went for Father's Day.  The weather was different and we did different things each time.  However, the photos from all three trips look fairly similar- a whole lot of pictures of us sledding and enjoying the snow.  And the trips were close enough together that the pages would be in the same scrapbook.  My goal was to make the three pages distinct enough that it wouldn't seem like I'd scrapped exactly the same thing three times.

Here's the page I did following the January trip, which I talked about in this post:

From Flamingo Scraps: Fancy Pants patterned paper

Other: Making Memories stickers; My Sentiments Exactly stamps; Jewelry Essentials rhinestones; ColorBox ink

Here's our April visit:

From Flamingo Scraps: Stickles

Other: SEI and Provo Craft patterned papers, Fiskars border punch, unknown snowflake punch

And here is Father's Day:

From Flamingo Scraps: Stickles

Other: Provo Craft patterned paper, EK Success sticker, unknown snowflake punch

Even though I used blue for each of the three layouts, I used various shades of blue.  I chose pictures that emphasized the differences between the trips, and laid them out differently.  The fonts, journaling style, and embellishments are different on each.  I didn't repeat any title words.  I think the three layouts are as distinct as the three trips were.

How do you keep things fresh when you scrap similar-looking photos from different events? 

JRR Hill Family -- Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden!

I am really fortunate to have lots of vintage photographs of my family.  And when I first saw the shabby elegant Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden Collection, I just knew it would be perfect to highlight some of my treasured old photos!

Supplies from Flamingo Scraps -- Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden patterned paper, Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden Metal Butterfly Charms (sold out), Graphic 45 Staples Stickers, Prima Bling, Prima Bronte Blooms in Powder Blue, Ranger Black Diamond and Cinnamon Stickles; other supplies -- miscellaneous bling, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, miscellaneous glittered alphabet

The elderly gentleman with the long beard is my great great grandfather, James R R Hill.  We haven't yet figured out what the two Rs stand for!  The man in the long tie and the woman with the braid on her blouse are my great grandparents, Arthur H. and Della Dutton Hill, and the little boy standing to the left of the pram is my grandfather, Arthur Milburn Hill!  James and his wife Nancy Knowles had 12 children!  Bless Nancy's heart, I have a portrait of her and she looks like she had 12 children -- she is nicknamed the Ugly Lady!

This detail shows the double mat, inked in Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Peeled Paint and a cluster of punched butterflies punctuated with the Metal Butterfly Garden Charm.

This detail shows one of the gorgeous images from the patterned paper that I cut out, inked in Peeled Paint Distress Ink, and highlighted with Prima Bling and stickles!


I loved working with the colors and patterns of the Butterfly Garden Collection and will be sharing another vintage layout in the collection soon!

Dressing Up a Gift Bag

I love dressing up plain gift bags.  Here's a very inexpensive gift bag from Michaels.  With a coupon, I paid under $2.00 for a pack of 10. 

I didn't like the white handle, so I gave it a quick spray with Peach Delight Glimmer Mist.  I also gave the front of the bag a light spray.  The colors matched really well, so it mostly provided a bit of shimmer.

With Key Lime Pie Glimmer Mist, I colored some ivory trim.  I used the same technique to curl the trim into vines that I did during September's Flamingo Five.   

I dug into my scraps pile and layered a green polka dot on some plain white paper.  (Actually, the white paper is the back of a very ugly pattern!)  I rubbed some Orange Peel Stickles onto a Prima flower, added a button in the center, then attached my green vines.

Here's the finished bag.  I think it's much cuter and much more personal than the original!

From Flamingo Scraps: Prima flower; Glimmer Mist; Stickles; Cheep Trims lace

Other: Michaels gift bag; Provo Craft patterned paper; unknown button

Do you dress up your gift bags?  If so, put a link in the comments so I can see what you've done!

One Sketch, Two Looks

I love working with sketches.  Before I tried them, I used to think that they would limit my creativity, but in fact, the opposite is true.  Sketches often take me out of my comfort zone and challenge me to work with shapes or layouts that I wouldn't typically come up with on my own.

This is a sketch by Rebecca Peck:

It's really simple, which I like.  I decided to see if I could make two cards, both based on the sketch, that look completely different from each other.

For my first card, I used Prima's Rebellious collection.  It follows the sketch fairly closely.  I didn't want to cover up the cute bird paper with a solid circle, so my solution was a semicircle of Stickles dots, connected with a pen. 

From Flamingo Scraps: Prima patterned paper; stickles

Other: Bazzill cardstock; Fiskars border punch; Zig pen

For the second card, I used Prima's My Mommy and Me collection.  I love the embossed leaf paper and didn't want to cover it with a solid circle either!  I laid out a piece of embroidery floss with the intention of hand-stitching a semicircle, but I couldn't get it to lay flat to see if I liked the design.  Then I realized the curvy floss would make such a cute balloon string!  In the end, I used a pen to draw the string and ditched the floss (and the semicircle) altogether. 

From Flamingo Scraps: Prima patterned paper

Other: Bazzill cardstock; Fiskars border punch; LePen marker; vellum; ColorBox ink; Hero Arts stamp

This sketch was so much fun!  As far as making two cards that look completely different from one another... mission accomplished!

Happy National No Housework Day!!

Housework? What's housework?!  We know not what that word means around here. :)

Just ask my Scarlet:

Yep.  We definitely can get behind this holiday here at Flamingo Scraps!!  So in honor of this fabulous holiday, we have a couple of layouts and projects to share with ya today....

Product details here.

You can't argue with Suzanne's cat!!!!!  No housework for her today -- can't cook, can't clean, can't wash dishes!!!!  She'll be scrapping instead!!!!!  So will Cindy, since she's got the cutest cleaning crew in town to do the housework for her....

From Flamingo Scraps: Stickles

Other Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Scenic Route patterned paper, Heidi Swapp letters, BasicGrey chipboard, Folk Art paint, American Crafts pen

And finally, what better way to celebrate than with this fabulous hard working bottle of dawn?

Well....
I should clarify....
I meant to say with Tonya's fabulous bottle of dawn!

From Flamingo Scraps:  Prima (patterened paper, say it in pearls and lace, mini roses), Distress Inks
Other Supplies: Acrylic Paint, Crackle Medium, Seam Binding in Cream & Brown, Cameo, Feathers, Cork

Yep.  I want THIS altered bottle of dish soap!

Don't you?!  Well guess what... it can be YOURS!!!  Along with these fabulous Maya Road goodies from our store:

All you have to do is leave us a comment on this blog post telling us how you'll be celebrating No Housework Day!!  And then go hop along to your next stop....

Scrapbook Abundance!!!

If you missed a stop or are just getting started, you can go to If it's Groovy to start at the beginning -- you won't want to miss your chance for some great giveaways and challenges along the way!! 

And if this is your first time to Flamingo Scraps, please visit here for info about how to get connected to us!!

Being "Caught Up"

I've heard many scrapbookers complain that they will never be caught up with their scrapping. Some agonize about their huge scrapping to-do list the way other people fret about their personal or work to-do lists. I don't get that. Scrapping is a hobby, not an obligation, yet to hear some people you'd think that it was a horribly unpleasant chore!

Personally, it doesn't bother me that much if I'm not caught up. As long as I can remember the reasons why the photo is important to me, then I'm happy. It helps that I journal daily. There have been many times that I've had to check the journal to help me tell the story exactly the way I wanted it to be told.

On average, I scrap 2-6 months behind. I typically order photos about six times a year, so I have around two months' worth of topics available to me when my photos show up. From those, I pick and choose as the mood strikes me. It's not uncommon for me to scrap events completely out of order, or even scrap parts of an occasion and not get to the rest until months later. I usually have at least 5 layouts (often more) partially done, and there's no rhyme or reason to when they are finished. I put everything in the albums chronologically, but I definitely don't scrap that way!

Here's a layout I finished on March 26. Coincidentally, the latest photo on it is from October 26, five months ago.

From Flamingo Scraps: Stickles
Other: My Minds' Eye patterned paper, Paper Company cardstock, Cloud 9 letter stickers

I'm going to have to rearrange the layouts in my album a bit, because I've already scrapped everything from November and I didn't guess correctly about how many October layouts I would make. I suppose if I were truly caught up, I wouldn't have this problem. Oh well!

I should mention that when I say I scrap 2-6 months behind on average, I am not including the literally thousands of unscrapped photos from my childhood, photos I inherited from my grandma, or photos from the years 2002 and 2003 during which I was busy dating my now-husband instead of scrapping. Yes, they're on my long-term to-do list, but I don't let them worry me.

Are you "caught up" with your scrapping? Does it bother you if you're not? I'd love to hear from you!

Painting with Stickles

One of my favorite new-to-me techniques is painting with Stickles. I love using Stickles to make tiny little accent dots on my projects, but it is even more satisfying to paint with them! I've experimented with a few different methods, using a stiff paintbrush, a Q-tip, or the tip itself to spread the Stickles. All of these work and create different beautiful effects!

About a year ago, Trevor came home from an event with a plain white cotton bag holding some goodies. He took out the treasures and promptly forgot about the bag. I decided that since he hadn't used it in a year, he wouldn't miss it. I used Staz-On ink to stamp butterflies on it, then masked a border stamp to create trails between the butterflies. I sprayed the whole thing with various shades of Glimmer Mist. Once it was dry, I put a large glob of aqua Stickles on each butterfly and used a Q-tip to push it into place. Fun!

From Flamingo Scraps: Stickles, Glimmer Mist, Fancy Pants stamp (trail)
Other: Staz-On ink, Inkadinkado stamp (butterfly)

My next project started as a box of granola bars. I cut the cardboard into tag-sized pieces and then stamped a flower vase and sentiment on them. I sprayed each tag with several colors of Glimmer Mist. It took some experimentation to find colors that would show up nicely on cardboard. When the mist was dry, I painted the stamped image using the nozzle of the Stickles bottles. These will be great to hang from a gift bag.

From Flamingo Scraps: Stickles
Other: Penny Black stamps, Bazzill cardstock, recycled cardboard

Painting with Stickles is so much fun!

Happy National Craft Month!

As you may know, March is National Craft Month. I thought I'd dedicate a post to one of the crafts I've done recently. While I am primarily a paper crafter, I do enjoy all sorts of other crafts!

I have made several crafts over the years using these:


They are quite handy to use as treat holders for birthdays. When Trevor turned 3, he had a Monsters Inc. party. Together, we made "Mike" baskets for all his friends.

My good friend Courteney recently mentioned that she was thinking about a Strawberry Shortcake themed birthday party for her two daughters. She asked if she could have some of my strawberry baskets to hold the party favors. Of course I said yes, then pulled out everything red and green in the craft room to see how I could decorate the baskets.

What fun! I started by weaving a red ribbon through slats of the basket. Then I stamped a strawberry. I added Stickles to the leaves/stem and coated the berry in Glossy Accents. I used a green pipe cleaner to make a handle and tied a dotted ribbon bow at the top. Cute!

From Flamingo Scraps: Stickles- Ranger
Other: stamp- Technique Tuesday; Ink- Technique Tuesday; Ribbon- Offray; Ranger Glossy Accents

Of course, being me, I couldn't stop there. How about cute barrettes for the two birthday girls?

And maybe some strawberry hair clips for all the girls who come to the party?


Napkin holders would be adorable.


What a fun theme! Happy National Craft Month, everyone!